Lily laughed as he finished the rolling and struck a pose for her. ‘Loving yourMiami Vicelook.’
They wandered along the edge of the water, gentle waves occasionally lapping at their feet, Lily holding her shoes in her left hand and Matt his in his right hand, their other arms brushing from time to time, and, ohGod, Lily wished they could have been right for each other and that this night could end the way their last beachside walk had ended.
She really didn’t want Matt to start the serious chat he clearly wanted to have, and destroy this moment.
‘Remember those turtles we saw in Zakynthos,’ he said, turning to look at Lily so that their arms brushed even more. Maybe he didn’t want to destroy the moment either.
‘I was just thinking about that beach too,’ she said. After the success of their ten days staying with Carole and Norm, they’d taken a holiday the next year to a different part of Greece and turtle-watched, dolphin-watched, sunbathed, had amazing food and drink and then, obviously, had fantastic sex too. Al fresco the first time and slightly marred by the sand – sex on the beach definitely wasn’t all it was cracked up to be – so they’d taken a little swim in the sea and then gone back to their room and hadthemost amazing night.
Matt drew a deep breath.
Lily didn’t do anything at all. She just stood and stared at him. It was like she’d lost control of herself. They were standing next to each other in the shallow water, under the clear, moonlit sky, with not another person in sight. If she inched just a tiny bit closer to his gorgeous, solid chest, they’d be touching. And if she inched closer again, they’dreallybe touching, in all sorts of places. Like they had this morning, except without the mud and the need to sort the wedding reception.
Matt reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from Lily’s cheek.
She sighed and opened her lips slightly and tilted her head back a little.
Matt smiled a little and didn’t move, and they just stood there gazing at each other.
Was this a bad idea? Would she feel like total crap afterwards because she’d be so bereft to say goodbye to him? Would he feel crap too? Nothing serious was going to happen between them because nothing could have changed in the past eight years, so it was definitely going to be goodbye.
Realistically, though, whether or not anything happened tonight, she was going to feel like total crap saying goodbye to him anyway. So, really, they might as well create one more good memory first.
In fact, maybe it would be like getting closure.
Just one kiss would be perfect.
Lily was almost holding her breath now. All she could think about was Matt and what might happen next.
His smile grew, and then he started to lean his head down towards hers.
She reached towards him and he further towards her and their lips met. And, oh wow. It was even better than she remembered. Her memories, her knowledge of him, the love they’d shared; all of that combined with the physical sensation to make the most amazing, wonderful kiss she could ever remember.
The kiss went on for a long time until Lily felt something bang against her leg and pulled away slightly to look down.
‘Oh my goodness,’ she said. ‘The tide. Your trousers. My dress. Our shoes.’
Matt looked down. ‘Woah. Whereareour shoes?’
‘Floating. One just bumped against my leg. I think it’s over there now.’ She pointed a few feet away.
Matt pulled his phone out, put the torch on and scanned around them. ‘Look at that.’ He pointed too. All four shoes were floating out to sea, quite close together.
‘Sweet. Like a little shoe family on a day out at the beach.’ Lily hitched her dress up and started to wade. ‘Might as well see if we can rescue them.’
‘Given how wet we already are,’ Matt said, when they’d retrieved the shoes and were standing out of reach of the water, ‘I’m thinking what about a moonlit dip?’
Lily felt a slow smile spread across her face. ‘You’re on.’
‘Cool. I’m going in in my trunks. Too conservative to either ruin my entire suit for no good reason or skinny dip.’ Matt shrugged out of his jacket and began to undo his shirt buttons and Lily felt her mouth go dry as he moved in front of her in the dim moonlight. There was something incredibly erotic about it, like he was stripping just for her in the near-darkness. She could make out the planes of his chest and abdomen, hear the gentle lapping of the water, smell the salt. Just the two of them, and the sea.
His face was in shadow, but she was pretty sure that he was watching her watching him.
And then he broke the spell.
‘I’m going in. You coming?’ He took a few steps into the water and then turned to face her.
‘Totally coming.’ Although, eek, now she was going to have to strip to her underwear in front of him. Or completely ruin her dress.
